


Security Glitch

by Port



Series: Security Glitch [1]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Collection: Purimgifts Day 1, Friendship, Gen, Trapped
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-11
Updated: 2017-03-11
Packaged: 2018-10-02 13:27:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,198
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10219346
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Port/pseuds/Port
Summary: Pepper was in the rec room with Darcy when the alarms started blaring and the panic doors dropped into place.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [DefinitelyNotScott](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DefinitelyNotScott/gifts).



When the alarms started blaring, Darcy was in the rec room trying to make awkward conversation with Pepper, who was something of an enigma. The poor woman was as much of a workaholic as Stark himself, hardly ever around when Darcy came by to visit Thor. But whereas Darcy felt free to pester Stark in his workshops, to just wander down and trade insults, she certainly didn’t have the same relationship with his partner, who seemed really nice but who kept herself at more of a distance.

They were in the middle of a tormented discussion about New York traffic when a siren pierced the air, sharp and deeply unpleasant, but not particularly ill-timed. Darcy, several days into her stay at the Tower, had come across Pepper in rare repose on one of the rec room couches and been invited to sit down and join her. Despite what everyone said, Darcy had not been raised in a barn. Plus she was really curious to crack Pepper’s shell. But somehow, and Darcy had the sense this was despite both their best intentions, they had veered into small-talk hell. The alarm almost came as a relief.

Both women clapped their hands to their ears and shouted for Jarvis to turn off the noise, but for once Jarvis didn’t seem to be listening. That was potentially disturbing, since Jarvis was Darcy’s pal and she hoped he was okay.

“Is there some other way to turn these off?” Darcy yelled, shoulders raised high.

Pepper had already taken out her Starkphone, grimacing when she had to uncover one ear to handle it. She tapped an icon and then pressed her thumb to the screen, and the noise shut off.

“Oh, my God, that was the worst,” Darcy said, slowly lowering her hands from her ears. “I think they heard that in Asgard.”

“Tony’s actually working on a phone that will reach that far,” Pepper muttered. “Are you all right?”

“Just startled,” Darcy said, shaking her head to get rid of the last ringing echoes of the alarm. “What happened?”

“One of the team got into a fight, most likely,” Pepper said. “They’ve rigged the building to go into deep security mode if anyone’s inside while anyone outside is attacked.”

“Deep security mode.”

“It’s overkill, if you ask me. The alarm would be enough, but the panic doors go down and don’t come back up until an Avenger gives Jarvis the all-clear.”

Darcy couldn’t help darting a glance at one of the three exit points of the room, which was a wooden door that didn’t look any different from before. Pepper smiled and got up from the couch, walked over to the door, and pulled it open by the handle. Instead of the hall, there was a wall of grey.

“Whoa,” Darcy breathed.

“Yup. Adamantium-laced steel, three inches thick. It drops down from the frame during deep security mode in case a secondary attack coincides with one that takes place outside the building. This happens to every room with a civilian in it.”

“Wait. You mean we’re trapped in this room until someone remembers to let us out?”

“Yup.” Pepper walked back to the couch and sat down heavily a comfortable distance from Darcy, who evaluated the rec room with a more discerning eye than ever before. There was a little kitchenette with a fridge full of snacks and a sink, so it wasn’t like they would starve. Darcy tamped down on a sudden, ridiculous desire for a glass of water. There was also a bathroom off to the side that she could see they hadn’t been cut off from, so really, no need to worry about anything apparently. 

“You don’t seem very concerned.” In fact, Pepper had gone from the attentive ease of their traffic discussion to downright laid-back.

“That’s because this happens all the time,” Pepper sighed.

Darcy thought about it. Six Avengers, all of them trouble-prone, each with a seemingly endless supply of super-powered enemies in a city of millions of people.

“Dude,” she said.

“Dude,” Pepper agreed.

“So you’re stuck in here all the time basically.” The more she thought about it, the more Darcy realized how much that must suck. “Why do you go along with this madness?” she demanded.

Pepper laughed. “It is pretty mad, isn’t it?” She laughed again.

“What’s so funny?” She was beginning to reconsider her relationship with Stark. This level of overprotectiveness was bad news.

“Well,” Pepper admitted. “I told Tony early on to change the protocol, and he tried. But it won’t work.”

Darcy’s jaw dropped. “Tony _Stark_ can’t change his own building’s security settings?”

“Yes. He rather outsmarted himself with the programming. It’s going to take a complete retrofit of the system to get it to stop. Due to other commitments, we have that scheduled for two months out. Don’t tell him I told you, though. He’s a little sensitive about it.”

“Of course,” Darcy agreed. She was mollified, but already looking forward to the snark she could foist on the man.

Pepper eyed her as though she could read minds.

“So what do you do during lockdown?” Darcy asked.

Pepper pointed her Starkphone at the TV screen, which switched on to show aerial news footage of Times Square, with the word “LIVE” in red on the bottom. The scene was remarkably clear of foot traffic, probably due to Iron Man hovering above the street across from Thor in his red cape, holding Mjolnir and standing atop a battered Audi. Between them was a figure with grotesquely bulging muscles wearing only a loincloth and a beard, waving his arms with a vague sort of menace. “I usually wind up watching the action,” Pepper sighed.

They watched the footage together as the strange man charged at Thor. A grappling contest ensued right there on Broadway, with Iron Man hovering awkwardly to the side and only contributing by making entertaining quips.

“This is the weirdest fight I have ever seen. And I was around for Thor versus the Destroyer in small-town New Mexico.”

Pepper nodded. “Last week it was a woman with long hair that she controlled with her mind.”

“You’re shitting me.”

“She twisted it around the Iron Man suit and somehow got it stuck in all the gears so that Tony couldn’t move, then she tried to squeeze him to death like a snake.”

“Oh, yeah! I think I saw something about that on Twitter. I thought it was just clickbait.”

“No, that was a real thing that happened. They made friends later. I think her name is Medusa.”

“I can’t believe you’re stuck here on account of lame fights like that.” Darcy thought for a second. “I can’t believe _we’re_ stuck here on account of lame fights like that.” Though she had to admit it had given them something to talk about besides the perils of rush hour. And the ongoing Battle of Times Square was very MST3K-able.

Pepper shrugged. “I’ve started stashing wine in the rooms I get trapped in the most.”

“Um, is this perchance one of those rooms?”

Pepper grinned. “It’s in the cabinet. There’s more than one glass, in case I get stuck with a friend.”

-End-


End file.
